


The Red Ones

by agirlnamedtruth



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s05e04 The End, Gen, Psychotropic Drugs, Recreational Drug Use, Sensory Deprivation, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-20
Updated: 2012-06-20
Packaged: 2017-11-08 04:44:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/439285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlnamedtruth/pseuds/agirlnamedtruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel tries to drown out the sound of the world ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Red Ones

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt Sensory Deprivation at [Hurt/Comfort Bingo](http://hc-bingo.livejournal.com) and the prompts Calming Influence & Apocalypse at [Writerverse](http://writerverse.livejournal.com)

Castiel was led on the floor of his hut, staring up at the ceiling, pretending he could see the stars. He couldn’t but that was beside the point, if he wanted to see actual stars he could go outside. He just wanted to pretend.

He heard the swish of his beaded curtain somewhere in the distance and decided it wasn’t worth getting up for.

“Cas?” Dean’s voice echoed, barely registering.

“Fearless leader. Come and lie down.” Castiel motioned for Dean to join him.

“And what illicit airline are you flying with tonight?” Dean asked, looking him up and down before giving in and sitting on the floor next to him.

Castiel reached in one of his pockets and tossed a pill bottle into the air, trusting Dean’s reflexes to catch it. Dean held it up to read the label.

“Seconal?” Dean asked, not recognizing them off the top of his head.

“It’s a bar...barbit...” Castiel tried again and gave up. “It’s the red one.”

Dean held them up to the light and rolled his eyes, they weren’t red at all. But then nowadays with Cas, it was a good conversation when Dean understood at least half of it. Then his memory caught up with the rest of the conversation and he chucked the bottle back to Castiel, who didn’t even make a grab for it.

“They’re barbiturates?” Dean asked, completely confused. “You know those are legal, right?”

“Not in the amount I’ve taken them, surely.” Castiel answered, with a somewhat incredulous look on his face.

“Ok, what’s going on this time?” Dean asked, each new drug tended to have some bizarre reasoning behind it.

“Lie down.” Castiel prompted him again. Dean obliged him, knowing it was the only way he was going to get an answer. “Now, what do you see?”

“I don’t know. The ceiling?”

“That’s probably right. Now ask me what I see.”

“What do you...” Dean started.

“Everything.” Castiel interrupted. “I can see every grain in the wood and each metal impurity in each nail and the woodworm that is slowly eating it away and the creatures that will eat the woodworm and the bigger creatures that will eat the little ones and then we’ll eat the bigger creatures and the Croats will probably eat us. What do you hear?”

Dean paused, listening. He could hear several things like the wind outside and the sound of Cas’ breathing and his own heartbeat, the blood rushing in his ears. But he wasn’t about to say any of that. “Nothing.”

“I can hear _everything_. I can hear all the creatures dying and the world giving up. Angels aren’t meant to be on a planet as it gives up, it’s excruciating. But here I am. All the others are above, arguing over what to do and some screaming at me to go home. Then there is your breed, all the helpless, hopeless humans praying to anything that will listen and I’m the only one that can hear them.”

“I’m...sorry.” Dean said, struck with the feeling that he was holding him back.

“Don’t be. It was your brother who decided to end the world, not you. But if I am here, then I don’t want to hear and see all that. This shuts them up for a while, makes everything quiet. Except you, of course, there’s no silencing you.”

“Do you want me to go?” Dean asked, looking sideways at Cas who looked sideways back at him.

“No, stay.” Castiel said with a smile. “I’d rather listen to you than everything else in the universe.”


End file.
